


Deep Breaths

by King_Oj



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Champion Shiro (Voltron), Concerned Keith (Voltron), Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Male Character, Gay Shiro (Voltron), He feels bad for causing concern, Hurt Shiro (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Sex, Keith helps poor Shiro, Kissing, M/M, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Keith (Voltron), Psychological Trauma, Recovery, SHEITH - Freeform, Sad Shiro (Voltron), Secret Relationship, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Shiro (Voltron) is a Mess, Supportive Keith (Voltron), Trauma, keith tries his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 16:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15777822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King_Oj/pseuds/King_Oj
Summary: Shiro's PTSD has been rocky, he wakes up in the night facing intense nightmares and Keith is right by his side to help.~Shiro jolted bolt upright in his bed, breathing heavily and erratically. Nightmares. The man gripped his head and pulled it forward between his knees, grabbing handfuls of silvery hair and clenching them tight. The vividness of his nightmares was terrifying, each memory replayed as if it was just happening all over again.~





	Deep Breaths

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoy this fic, I was thinking that Shiro always helps others in their most vulnerable moments, maybe it was time for someone to help him.
> 
> Kudos and feedback are always appreciated, this will not be an ongoing fic so don't worry about bookmarking this one!

-Castle of Lions v2: 3:30am simulated time-

“We’re moving you to a new living space, Champion. You won’t have to deal with those foul prisoners disrupting your excellence now do we… NOW do we Shiro?”  
“No.. no.. Matt.. Sam.. Where are they.. Stop it..”  
“..Sedate him..”  
“No..no, please.. Don’t.. I don’t want this…”  
“Now that’s taken care of…Earth.. Altea.. Destruction sequence B5 is affirmative.. Prepare for Launch.”  
“Shiro.. Are you ready?.. The Garrison needs you now... Hey, what’s wrong?...Honey we need to talk this through..”  
“Slaughter him! Kill him with all your soul and strength combined, use your human connection to deplete his rationality… Keith will be no more to you… Kill… Kill.. Kill..”  
“I.. I can’t hear you..”  
“Lance.. Please.. Listen to me..”  
“..Shiro… Iverson wants you…”  
“... You feel no pain now.. Champion…”

Shiro jolted bolt upright in his bed, breathing heavily and erratically. Nightmares. The man gripped his head and pulled it forward between his knees, grabbing handfuls of silvery hair and clenching it tight. The vividness of his nightmares was terrifying, each memory replayed as if it was just happening all over again. The thoughts were disjointed, in the wrong order, some fictional, but still they remained as tormenting as ever. To a sleep filled brain, anything thrown at it is real. To Shiro’s brain, the past was thrown at it often, the past’s painful moments. The fact that they were true made them all the more immersive, he wanted out of this state of being, he was also prepared to spend the rest of his life with this trauma, as he might never see it die.

Shiro looked around him, trying to ground himself. He saw the walls of the black paladin’s sleeping quarters, he saw his armour inside a protective enclosure. He saw his bayard, glowing a calm blue, sat on his empty shelf. The man inhaled slowly, closed his eyes and then breathed out. He felt his racing heart begin to slow down, his mind was becoming less clouded, but his physical symptoms still remained. He went to repeat his grounding exercise again, as he got to looking at the door, it was open, and a figure was standing there. Shiro’s brain was open to hallucinations, especially recently, his brain “wasn’t doing so good” as he would like to put it.  
“Takashi?” The figure asked out softly to him. “Can I turn on the light?” It was Keith, who looked..concerned. The red paladin didn’t wait for a response as he knew Shiro wouldn’t really be able to answer right now, he turned the lighting dial onto a dim setting. He came and sat next to the man, who was clearly in a state of distress.  
“Deep breaths..ok?” Keith said softly, massaging Shiro’s immensely tense shoulders. “In n’ out. You got this.” Shiro followed Keith’s instruction, breathing as deeply and as slowly as he could. This went on for a few minutes, until Keith then decided to try and speak to Shiro.

“Are you in a place where you can tell me what’s wrong?” He asked, placing his hand on Shiro’s left thigh to try and comfort him.  
“I--yeah.. Think so.” Shiro’s mouth was dry from the stress his body had just gone through, he took a sip from the water that Keith had brought in for him. “Just nightmares.. Sorry for waking you.. You should go back to sleep Keith.” Shiro said, trying to brush off the incident as nothing. He needed to remain looking strong, even in his weakest moments.  
“No, Shiro. You know I’m here to help you, I know things are rough, but what harm can talking about it do? I’ve come to you so many times and you have been amazing at helping me, don’t be afraid to reach out when you need it too.” Keith took hold of the older man’s left hand and squeezed it tight. “Let it all out Shiro.”  
“Are you sure this is ok? You look tired Honey, please go to sleep.”  
“I’m not leaving until I know you are doing good again, I’ll stay here all night if I have to.” Shiro accepted his fate, Keith wasn’t going to back down with this as much as Shiro wanted to be alone.

The black paladin shuffled to sit up more, crossing his legs so Keith could come sit with of him at the foot of the bed. “It’s just.. All of these thoughts.. They seem so real. I want them to stop and sometimes I really think they have, but then I’m reminded two nights later that I was just having a good couple days. It makes me sick, physically sick Keith. The thoughts of blood and hurt and what I did to you, I can taste it in my mouth whenever I think about it. Those are usually the worst ones, when I get my brain showing me the love of my life and the people I care for most, all smashed up on the ground.. or being tortured to death…” Shiro cupped his hand over his trembling jaw and dashed over to the bathroom, pulling his entire shaking frame up to the sink. Keith followed him all the way, grabbing the man’s hair as he began to gag. Nothing came up, which was normal for Shiro. In between heaves, the black paladin tried to talk more to Keith. “-I.. My throat does this thing.. Makes me wanna puke but I can’t.. Just a phantom symptom.. Happens when I see blood on broken glass n. stuff ...guess I must have dreamt it or something..” Keith rubbed circles against Shiro’s trembling shoulders. He was terrified. He had for sure seen Shiro really out of it lots of times before but, he could never handle seeing the older man so broken. It made his chest ache, but he did his best to try and help him. He knew about the things Shiro was saying already, but in this state Shiro couldn’t remember what he had told Keith about before so he said it anyway, just to make sure.

When Shiro’s throat had opened up and he was not getting reflexes anymore, Keith guided him back to the bed and sat him upright. He handed the shaking figure his glass of water, which rattled with the single ice-cube that hadn’t melted yet. “Look at me Shiro. It’s gonna be ok. I know there are ways you can deal with this, you are the strongest guy I know Shiro, you can do it.”  
“Thanks.. I’m pretty fed up of this.. I guess you already know that.”  
“I knew something was going bad, you’ve seemed a little more rattled these last few days. I kept my personal comm with you open tonight, I was going to report anything nasty back to Coran in case he had any ideas on how to help you. At first you were just shuffling around a lot n’ breathing heavier but then you started shouting for people n’ you hit the wall with your metal arm. I’m so sorry to have just come in like this but you sounded like you needed to be snapped out of it right then and there. It was painful to hear.”  
“Maybe I’m going through a rough patch, I don’t usually full out scream. I feel calmer now though, thank you. If you hadn’t have stepped in I would have probably drowned in my own thoughts by now. I appreciate you so much Keith, I can’t believe I have someone like you to fight with me.. And witness all the ugly parts too.” Keith brought Shiro into a tight squeeze, he wanted the older man to feel as much love as he was capable of feeling because he truly meant everything to Keith. He was willing to stand by the Paladin’s side until the very end.  
“Let’s go to the kitchen, it might be good to have a little walk out of here for now.” Keith suggested.   
“You lead the way.” Shiro said with the first true smile he’d had in days, he felt warm and loved.

As the two walked through the barely lit halls, their hands met, fingers intertwining with each other. They both loved one another dearly, however the Castle of Lions wasn’t the best place for a relationship. Shiro and Keith had a talk about the situation roughly six months back and they decided to keep quiet, they thought it might impact the team badly if they had a clear thing going. The time after that they spent quick, secret moments together. Either on Earth at the Garrison base or up in the Second Castle. They exchanged kisses in Shiro’s old room, held hands on the grounds after dark as they walked, little things like that when they weren’t too busy saving the world. Shiro stopped as they neared the door to the kitchen.   
“Everything ok?” Keith asked looking at Shiro, gaining no response. The older man put his hand on Keith’s cheek, gazing into the man’s sparkling purple eyes.  
“I love you Keith.” He said softly, before he brought Keith in for a kiss. It was slow and intimate, they both needed it. It felt like they had stepped into a world of utmost tranquility, the best peace Shiro could ask for. Their soft kisses soon became a makeout session which soon lead the route back to Keith’s room. And after that, was the waking up in bed next to the red paladin in the morning, hugging him tightly as he slept soundly.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! If you have any ideas that you would like to see in a fic, let me know! I am always open for suggestions.
> 
> Kudos and comments are highly appreciated, thanks!!


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